


Expecto Patronum

by sassmaster_tiresias



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Dementors, Draco loves his son so much someone help me, Gen, everyone protecting everyone, i never expected to love Draco this much someone help me
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-04
Updated: 2016-08-04
Packaged: 2018-07-29 07:40:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,075
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7675840
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sassmaster_tiresias/pseuds/sassmaster_tiresias
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The only other time Harry has seen a Patronus that bright is when he first cast his, to protect himself and Sirius.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Expecto Patronum

Albus wakes with a crick in his neck and pins and needles in his arm. They’ve fallen asleep on the couch again. It’s the eighth night of his and Scorpius’ summer at the Malfoy vacation home, and they’ve fallen asleep on the couch all but one of them. The fire has burned low, leaving only embers, but it’s enough light for him to see what’s making him uncomfortable.

Scorpius is slumped over against Albus, fast asleep, crushing Albus’ arm against the back of the couch. The book Scorpius was reading has fallen to the floor, but Albus’ is still in his hand where it lays limply against Scorpius’ hip. Scorpius is kind of drooling on Albus’ shoulder, which is gross but Albus is too drowsy to shove him over to the other end of the couch.

Just as he’s dozing off again—his head in a slightly more comfortable position on top of Scorpius’—Albus realizes what woke him in the first place: the wind is howling outside. He smiles to himself, eyes flicking over to the curtained window. Careful, he tries to wriggle his arm out from under Scorpius, but Scorpius only burrows closer at the disturbance.

“Scorp,” Albus whispers. “Come on, mate, get off.” He doesn’t have enough strength in his tingling arm to push Scorpius away.

“No,” Scorpius grumbles. “’M cold. You’re warm.”

Albus rolls his eyes. “I’ll get you a blanket while I’m up. Now let me go, there’s a storm, I wanna go look.”

At that, Scorpius lifts his head and blinks sleepily at Albus. “Why?”

“I like the lightning.”

“Weirdo,” Scorpius scoffs fondly, but raises himself up just enough for Albus to escape.

As he walks to the window, Albus feels a little bit of the cold that Scorpius had complained about. Which is weird, because it’s July and should definitely be warmer than this, even if it is storming. Whatever. He decides to grab two blankets on his way back to the couch. Or maybe just one really big one. With that thought, he pushes back the heavy velvet curtain, hoping to see some good lightning.

Instead, he sees nothing. It’s pitch black outside. He can’t even make out the tree line beyond the house. “What the hell?” he mutters. Scorpius hums halfheartedly from the couch. Albus begins to respond, “I can’t see—”

He leaps back from the window. “Bloody hell! Fuck, shit, Scorpius, get up! Get up, Scorpius!” Albus runs back to the couch and yanks Scorpius upright, then starts scrabbling at the coffee table for their wands.

“What the hell, Albus?” Scorpius barks, rubbing at his eyes as Albus presses his wand into his hand.

“There’re dementors outside. We’re completely surrounded,” Albus explains. Scorpius’ eyes widen in horror. They stare at each other in silence for a moment, the droning that had woken Albus now clearly the moaning of dementors.

“What are we gonna do?” Scorpius says.

“I don’t know.” Albus drags his hands through his hair, pacing frantically. “You’re the smart one, Scorpius, what do we do?”

Scorpius’ brain feels like it’s buffering in his fear. “I—uh, we should…” Blanking, he squeezes his eyes shut. When he opens them and sees Albus’ terror he gets a kick start. “Patronus!” he cries. Scorpius leaps to his feet. “We need to cast a Patronus.” He brandishes his wand, then deflates. “I don’t know how to cast a Patronus.”

“I do,” Albus says uncertainly. “Sort of. My dad tried to teach us, but I’ve never really been able to do one. Especially not a corporeal one.” He grips his wand tightly.

Scorpius steps closer. “But you could try.”

“Even if I did,” Albus replies, “even if I could do it, one Patronus wouldn’t be enough to get rid of all of those dementors.” He sees Scorpius’ face fall. “We need help.”

Sitting back down, Scorpius lowers his head between his knees. “But how? How are we going to get help?”

Albus flops down next to Scorpius, but can’t take his eyes off the window, as if the dementors are going to burst though at any second. “My dad would know what to do.”

Scorpius laughs bitterly. “If your dad was here, we wouldn’t need help. He can cast one of the most powerful Patronuses ever.” They’re quiet again for a moment, then Scorpius grasps desperately at Albus’ arm.

“That’s it! We can use a Patronus to get help. During the Second Wizarding War, the Order of the Pheonix used their Patronuses to communicate.” Scorpius beams at his friend. “You can get a message to your dad and he can come help us.”

Albus goes pale and tense. “Scorpius, I told you, I can’t.”

“You have to try,” Scorpius urges. “It’s our only chance.”

Albus groans and paces into the middle of the room. He tosses his wand from one hand to the other, taps it against his thigh.

“Fine!” Albus shouts finally. “I can’t have you watching me, though. Come over here and watch my back.”

Scorpius smiles proudly at his friend. Albus turns away and Scorpius positions himself so they’re back to back.

“Just think happy thoughts,” Scorpius encourages. “You can do it, Albus, I believe in you.”

With that, Albus takes a deep breath and tries to clear his thoughts. I can do it, he thinks, Scorpius believes in me.

Albus thinks of James, playing garden Quidditch with him when they were little, before James left for Hogwarts. Albus thinks of Lily being their referee. Albus thinks of his Dad telling him that it didn’t matter what house he was sorted into, before everything went wrong. Albus thinks of Scorpius on the train, floundering in insecurity. Albus thinks of that day on the hill with his father. Albus thinks of the first time Scorpius caught the snitch, beating James to it as he dodged Rose’s bludgers. Albus thinks of last Christmas, when Scorpius and his dad came to the Burrow, and Gram had sweaters for them, and Scorpius slept on the living room floor with Albus and all of his cousins. Albus thinks of the last week he’s spent in this house with his best friend, playing chess and goofing off in the forest and chasing each other down to the beach.

“Expecto patronum,” Albus whispers, and as the light slithers from the tip of his wand if forms itself into a shape.

“Did it work?” Scorpius asks, and Albus can feel him start to turn.

“Shh!” Albus scolds, heart in his throat. “Don’t look, you’ll throw me off.” He stares in shock at the shape that he’s facing. There’s a moment of silence.

“You have to tell it what to say,” Scorpius hisses, clearly trying not to disturb Albus too much.

But Albus can’t speak. His throat has closed up at the sight of his Patronus: a little scorpion.

Scorpius leans back, his shoulders pressing into Albus’. “Albus,” he says. “Please. I’m scared.”

Albus reaches with his free hand until he finds one of Scorpius’. It’s Scorpius’ wand hand, so Albus holds onto his wrist. “Dad,” Albus blurts. “Please, help us. We need help.” His fades out, and for lack of a better idea, he flicks his wand. The scorpion scampers away, through the wall of the house, and hopefully off to find Albus’ dad.

Albus sighs. “Okay, I did it,” he says.

“Good,” Scorpius responds, and Albus can hear his relief. Scorpius switches his wand to his other hand and laces his fingers through Albus’. “Keep concentrating on it. You can do it, Albus.”

Another deep breath. Albus concentrates on Scorpius’ hand in his.

xXx

Harry has the house to himself. Albus is spending the summer with Scorpius, Lily and James are at Shell Cottage for Dominique’s birthday, and Ginny is out for a girl’s night with Hermione and Luna. He thought he’d enjoy the peace and quiet, but really he’s just bored. He’s debating whether or not he should give up on entertaining himself and go to bed when the glowing shape skitters to a stop at his feet.

He knows immediately what it is. It’s not hard to identify a Patronus. But he doesn’t know of anyone who has a scorpion Patronus, much less someone who would contact him in that manner. Then, the thing speaks.

“Dad,” it says, “Please, help us. We need help.”

Albus. It’s Albus. He’s never been able to cast a full-fledged Patronus before, as far as Harry knows, but that was unmistakably Albus’ voice. 

Albus needs help. But Harry doesn’t know how to get to him.

He apparates onto Draco Malfoy’s front lawn (desperate as he is, Harry doesn’t fancy getting stupefied for appearing in the living room) and immediately starts banging on the door.

Draco answers in his pajamas, angry, but his anger vanishes the second he sees Harry’s expression.

“What is it?” Draco asks, opening the door wider and stepping back so Harry can get in.

“Albus sent me a Patronus,” Harry explains. “He sounded scared, said they needed help. But I don’t know where they are, I don’t know how to get to them.”

Pulling his wand from the pocket of his robe, Draco seized Harry’s forearm. “Brace yourself,” Draco says, and then they disapparate.

They appear on the front porch of the vacation home and immediately reel back, recognizing what the whirling black around them is.

“Expecto patronum!” Harry shouts, and the stag springs forth from his wand. The dementors back up a bit, but don’t disperse. Draco clutches his wand fearfully at Harry’s side.

“Go get the boys,” Harry commands. Before Draco can move to obey, the door is thrown open.

“Dad!” Albus cheers, beaming at his father. “I did it, it worked!”

Their success is short lived, though, as the dementors swarm closer at the appearance of the boys.

Harry concentrates, making his Patronus glow brighter. “We have to get out of here.” Harry glances back at Draco and the boys. “Draco, help me chase them off.”

Draco’s mouth gapes but no words come out.

“Dad, come on!” Scorpius pleads, but Draco doesn’t move.

Albus shoves Scorpius back and moves a few steps closer to his own father. “Expecto patronum,” he says. When there are only a few wisps, he tries again with more force. “Expecto patronum!” The scorpion appears at Albus’ feet.

Scorpius’ breath hitches. “Albus,” he breathes.

“Shut up,” Albus says, though not unkindly. “I have to concentrate, Scorpius, I have to get you out of here.”

One dementor makes a swerve in towards Scorpius and Albus directs his Patronus to his friend’s defense. The scorpion grows as it rears at the dementor.

That only seems to make the collective angrier. A few dementors come in to have a go at Albus while he’s still focused on Scorpius.

“No!” Harry shouts, and the stag gallops to stand before Albus in protection.

Draco looks on in horror as Albus Potter defends his son and Harry tries to protect all of them at once.

“Draco!” Harry snaps. “We need you.”

“I—I can’t,” Draco stammers. “I can’t do it, I’ve never been able to.”

“What?” Harry whirls towards him, and the stag does the same.

In the moment when Harry’s attention is on Draco, a group of dementors swoops towards Albus and Scorpius. Both boys scream.

Instinctually, Harry grabs his own son and hauls him backwards. The action breaks Albus’ fragile hold on his Patronus, and it evaporates from its position in front of Scorpius.

With Scorpius, unprotected, the dementors turn all of their attention on him.

Albus shouts the spell again, but in his panic it doesn’t work. The dementor passes Scorpius, and Draco can see his son’s soul leave his body for just a second.

“EXPECTO PATRONUM!”

The only other time Harry has seen a Patronus that bright is when he first cast his, to protect himself and Sirius. All of them are blinded for a minute. When the light dissipates, every last dementor is gone. Harry blinks away the stars in his vision and looks at Draco.

A glowing white fox paces between Draco’s feet. It walks over to Scorpius and nuzzles at his ankles. Scorpius just stares in shock.

After a moment, the fox vanishes.

Albus struggles from his father’s protective grip and throws his arms around Scorpius. Scorpius automatically hugs his friend back, but his awed gaze stays on his father.

Harry claps Draco on the shoulder. “Well,” Harry declares, “I’d say you managed it.”

**Author's Note:**

> I read somewhere that JKR once said Draco would never be able to cast a Patronus charm, presumably because he doesn't have any happy memories. And before Cursed Child, I would have believed that. But this man loves Scorpius SO MUCH.
> 
> I picked a fox for Draco's patronus because they're very paternal and protective of their mates, and Scorpius and Astoria are surely the memories Draco uses to create his.
> 
> Albus' is a scorpion for obvious reasons.


End file.
